Express & Star

Wolves blog: Nuno's side showing bounceback-ability

Wolves are displaying everything about that word which means so much in football and is emblematic of a strong team.

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Three times Wolves have lost this season – and three times they have followed up those losses with convincing wins, writes Wolves blogger Tom Tracey.

A 2-1 loss against Cardiff was followed by a 2-0 win at Southampton. A 2-0 loss at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane was reprieved by a convincing 4-0 win at Burton.

Last weekend’s loss to QPR was forgotten with a 2-0 table-topping win at Carrow Road against Norwich, who Wolves have always seemed to struggle against over the last decade.

Three losses followed by three away wins – and three clean sheets.

After the Cardiff loss, Wolves didn’t concede in the next three games, whilst they kept two consecutive clean sheets after the Blades defeat.

There is definitely something impressive about the way Wolves are responding to defeat – for a team with title credentials, losing two in a row is something that must be avoided at all costs.

The way Nuno’s team have gone about things, you’d be confident to suggest Wolves won’t lose consecutive games all season.

The win at St Mary’s came after wholesale changes in the starting eleven against a solid Southampton side, but the team that came in did their job very effectively, as many of them did throughout the League Cup campaign.

Wolves made four changes against Burton, introducing for the first time the dynamic attacking trio of Costa, Cavaleiro and Jota – and the team were rampant.

Nuno made three defence changes for the game at Norwich, bringing in Bennett and Boly and the enforced Saiss for N’Diaye change – the two defenders ended up getting an assist and a goal respectively, as well as keeping the clean sheet.

Looking back at Nuno’s interviews post-defeat and pre-victory, there is an impressive trend.

It seems unlikely fans will tire of Nuno’s words as they so often do with previous managers speaking in tired clichés and empty meanings – we all hang on his every word, limited in number as they are.

Speaking before each of the games that have followed the defeats, he mentions the importance of analysis and the need to react accordingly.

After the Cardiff defeat, he said: "There were too many mistakes… this is the lesson."

Despite going down to ten men against Sheffield United, without which Wolves may have got something, Nuno said bluntly: "There's nothing very positive from this game."

After the defeat to QPR, he said: "We conceded things we normally wouldn't do – we normally aren't so vulnerable in defensive situations. We have to take a good look at that. What was missing was being effective.”

Before the Southampton game, he carried on with the message of learning from defeat, saying: “I’m sure we will learn from our mistakes. I’m sure about that.”

Ahead of the Burton clash, he said: “We react – and you react by actions, not words. We have an opportunity to show we’re ready for the job.”

Against Norwich, again he had a similar message ahead of the two previous losses: "We have to react immediately.”

One of the key reasons Wolves fans are so behind Nuno is that he has been true to his word without fail.

He is honest, down-to- earth and genuine.

One-third of the way through the season, Nuno’s Wolves have shown they have ‘bounceback-ability’.

There’s no reason to think that will change.